Gary Hawk Safety Award

In 1996, the annual Governor’s Safety & Health Conference safety award was renamed to the “Gary Hawk Safety Award” in honor of long-time OSH Advisory Council member Gary Hawk, who passed away after a long battle with cancer.

2017 Gary Hawk Safety Award Winner: Gary Higbee

Gary Higbee has over 50 years of experience ranging from working on the factory floor to upper management. His assignments include positions in production engineering, safety and environmental engineering, production management, corporate director, vice-president, and president/CEO.

Gary has an MBA from the University of Iowa and is a board certified safety professional. Gary is a past recipient of the Safety Professional of the Year Award for Region IV of the American Society of Safety Engineers. In 2010 Gary received the Distinguished Service to Safety Award from the National Safety Council. The DSSA is the National Safety Council’s highest individual award.

He is considered an expert in traditional and behavior-based safety technologies as well as complex organizational change initiatives.

Gary’s book, coauthored with Larry Wilson, entitled Inside Out: Rethinking Traditional Safety Management Paradigms, was released in 2010 and is already in its third printing.

In addition to his consulting, Gary has published many articles and is a frequent keynote speaker around the world. His recent topics include “Guaranteeing the Success of Safety Committees,” “Managing Complex Change Initiatives,” “Nine Steps for Changing your Safety Culture,” “Breaking the Cycles of Risky Behavior,” “Predicting Human Performance,” “Frustrations in Safety,” “Five Stages to World Class Performance,” “Visionary Leadership,” and “Managing Complex Change.”

Using his over 50 years of experience and a sense of humor, Gary has become an internationally known speaker on safety, health, environmental and business issues.

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Save the Date: 47th Annual Iowa Governor's Safety & Health Conference will take place November 1 & 2, 2018 in Altoona, Iowa!